Seven persons, six of them police officers, died in a vehicular accident in Naawan town, Misamis Oriental province at past 9 a.m. on Saturday in what could have been a break from a leadership training course in Cagayan de Oro City. /PDI
According to a police incident report, the police officers were on board two passenger vans that were trailing a cargo truck. As they reached Purok 11 of Barangay Poblacion, their vehicles took the outer lane in a bid to overtake the cargo truck.
Suddenly, the truck’s front wheel burst and the vehicle went out of control, slamming into the vans. The driver of the cargo truck was also hurt. Disaster responders from Initao, Manticao, and Naawan towns, and Iligan City rushed to the accident scene and brought the victims to the nearest hospitals. However, seven were pronounced dead. They are Staff Sergeants Michael Ermac, Marjun Reuyan, Jevilou Cañeda, Eugene Lagcao, Aaron Ticar, and Arnill Manoop, and retired Staff Sgt. Anito Abapo, who drove one of the vans, according to an initial police report.